Claiming that the state's bureaucracy is shooing away businesses, House lawmakers on Thursday night gave initial approval to a bill aiming to quicken regulators' pace of cranking out permits for major industrial projects by limiting public scrutiny. Over the objections of consumer groups and environmentalists, the chamber tentatively passed Senate Bill 709, which would scale back contested-case hearings , a process that allows the public to challenge industrial applications for permits at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality such as those allowing wastewater discharges or air pollution emissions.